Defendant describes how assault escalated

Richmond police detective Stina Johanson provided contentious testimony in a Martinez courtroom Wednesday concerning Marcelles Peter and his account of fondling the 16-year-old Richmond High student who police say was raped and beaten by multiple men on school grounds in October 2009.

Johanson was the 18th witness to testify in a preliminary hearing before Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Gregory Caskey.

The detective said she was one of the officers who went to Peter’s Pinole home on October 27, 2009 with a warrant for his arrest after people present at the assault implicated him in the crime. Peter was not at home when police arrived at 9:30 p.m., but he turned himself in to Richmond police shortly after midnight on the same night. Officers then interviewed Peter for three hours, said Johanson